Tournament gets green light

There was a collective sigh of relief when the boxing tournament scheduled to celebrate Nelson Mandela's birthday tonight was given the green light to go-ahead.

The event to be held at ICC had been shrouded in uncertainty after BCM declined to fund it. This when all the boxers were already in the city and fight promoter Ayanda Matiti of Xaba Promotions (XP) had managed to get a special deviation from Boxing SA that allowed him to deposit 10% of purse-monies.

BSA chief executive Tsholofelo Lejaka said the continuation of the tournament was subject to XP depositing the balance of the funds before the weigh-in.

In light of the developments at BCM the official weigh-in was moved from 1pm to 5pm.

Despite the BCM stance, Matiti vowed to continue with the show which will mark the fifth edition of Mandela birthday celebrations through boxing. True to his word Matiti, Boxing SA board chairman Peter Ngatane agreed to go ahead with the event.

The main bout will see IBO junior-bantamweight champion Gideon Buthelezi defending his crown against Argentinean Lucas Fernandez.

Duncan Village star Yanga Sigqibo will battle for the vacant WBC International junior-bantamweight title against Filipino Rene Decquel.

There will be other title bouts on the card featuring Nhlanhla Ngamntwini and Uyanda Nogogo. The green light given to the tournament served as triumph for the organisers and the regulatory body as a cancellation would have left the sport with bad eye. Matiti said he knew the tournament was going ahead and thanked his supporters and boxers for believing in him. — DDC